Chap. VI. 7he HIS~ORY ofthePuRITANs. 635 " nor trufl:ed by the fl:ate; but what they are God knows, and the world C King II " r. I h . . . Th barl.es ' " may know, if they pleate to contu t t e1r wmmgs-- ey are not to 1662 . " them that know them, what they are reported by them that know them ~. " not --I know them fufficiently to make me bewail their condition, " and the vafl: damage to thoufands of fouls by their exclufion, not only • " in the out ik.irts, but in the very heart of England, who are committed " in many parts, to them that neither can nor will promote their everlafl:- " ing interefl:s." Upon the whole, though I do not pretend that all the ejetl:ed minifl:ers were equally learned, pious and deferving, yet upon a calm and fedate view of things I can't help concluding, that in the main they were a body of as eminent coifdfors for truth and liberty, as this or any other nation has produced. Many complied with the terms of conformity, not becaufe they approv- The conditim ed them, but for the fake of their families, or becaufe they were unwil- if others. ling to be buried in filence, as bilhop Reynolds, Wilkins, Hopkins, Fowler, &c. Several young fiudents, who were defigned for the pulpit, applied themfelves to law or phyfic, or diverted to fome fecular employment. Bilhop Kennet in order to extenuate their calamities, has taken pains toK. Chron• . point out the favours the ejetl:ed minifiers received from private perfons: p. 888, (5c~ Some (fays he) found friends among the nobility and gentry, who relieved their necelllties; fame were taken as chaplains into good families, or officiated in hofpitals, prifons, or chapels of eafe; fome became tutors, or fchool-mafl:ers; fome who went beyond fea were well received in foreign parts; fame became eminent phyficians and lawyers; fome had good efl:ates of their own, and others married great fortunes: But how does this extenuate the guilt of the church or legiflature, who would have deprived them of thefe retreats if it had been in their power? The bilhop adds, '' Therifore we do ill to charge the church with perfecution, whm " the laws ~vere made by the civil government, with a view to the peace and '' fafity qf tbe )late, ratber than to any h01zour or interejl qf the church." It feerns therefore the load of perfecution mufl: lie wholly upon the legiflature: But had the bilhops and clergy no hand in this affair? Did they not pu£11 the civil government upon thefe extremities, and not only concur, but profec~te t_he penal laws with unrelenting rigor throughout the greatefl: part of tl11S reign ? The church and fiate are faid tc be fo incorporated as to make but one co'!flitution, and thepenal laws are fhifted from one to t~1e other till tl:ey are quite loft ; the church can't be charged with perfecutzon~ b:caufe It ~akes no laws; nor can t~e civil government be ch~rged with It, becaufe tt makes them not againfl: confcience, but with ;t view to the fafety of the ftate; with fuch idle fophifms are men to be amufed, when 'tis to cover a reproach!. 4 M z Dr.
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